It’s apparently breaking news as of last night? by the New York Times that Donald Trump knew two weeks prior to his inauguration that Russia interfered in the election in order to make sure he would be elected; with the express permission and direction of Dictator Putin. He knew that it was done so that the election would turn out in his favor. Every single time he has said he didn’t believe there was election interference, he lied. Every time he has said there was, “No colluuuuuuusion,” it was a lie. Every time he lies, it’s obstruction and for that matter, a cover-up.

If you’ve followed or read my blog for the past two or three years, you know that none of this is breaking news to me. Maybe some of you thought I was a little paranoid. 😉 That’s okay. Plenty of people don’t listen to anything I say, thinking I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m used to it. I live in Connecticut, after all. I mean, we may bleed Blue for the most part but we also just had a guy on a dairy farm just get kicked in the head by a cow. And the news anchor had to make sure to say,

“He did suffer serious head injuries, but no information on his condition.”

Yes, he would since he was kicked in the head by a cow. Being in his 20’s wouldn’t keep him from avoiding serious head injuries.

I wish I could say that the things that have been leaking out, and the indictments, subpoenas, plea deals, have been vindicating. The problem is that we’re still stuck with a treacherous guttersnipe in the Oval Office. The problem is that I didn’t want to be right.

I never, ever wanted to be right. I wanted to be proven wrong. I want every single elected official we ever have to succeed, especially a duly elected president. Hell, even a president that was inserted by Russians… I was in a position where I felt forced to “give him a chance.” I wanted him to succeed. I promise, that’s the truth.

Giving someone a chance doesn’t ever mean ignoring the truth. It doesn’t mean ignoring what you already know about someone. It means giving someone a chance with a healthy skepticism and a willingness to continue to ask questions and research and fact check in order to protect yourself and others.

Investigating the election fraud and other crimes stemming from it isn’t about, “being unable to let go of Mrs. Clinton not winning the election.” It’s about the undermining of our election, our democracy, our Republic and the fact that one of the candidates in the election… the candidate that did end up in the Oval Office… was part of the tampering. He encouraged, took part in, and continued to take part in espionage.

I think the scramble by the White House, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lindsey Graham, hell even Sean Spicer to rehabilitate Trump’s current Russian joint presser statement into something means the opposite of what he actually said is a clear indication that he meant what he said. He has always said that he doesn’t need or want other people to explain what he says because he always says what he means. And that presser? That was clearly scripted. He knew what he was saying. He was proud of himself. He was smug. The damage control is something that I’m sure Trump doesn’t even believe needs to be done.

Again… he’s told us who he is, so why don’t people believe him when he shows us?

This is not Democratics vs Republicans vs Independents vs Green Party. It’s about willingness to side with truth and justice, patriotism and America, or willingness to side with a traitor and not care about the lies and treason in favor of a larger, damaging agenda. It’s also about voting vs non-voting.

At this point, it’s also about whether people are reformed Trump voters. I’m not touching Republican, specifically because I know people of all political affiliations voted for him. I’m not touching GOP either. And yes, I’m making a very wide line between Republicans and GOP. Because the GOP has become the tool of the Tea Party. What Conservative stands for now is a warped stance of conservativism. I’m a recovering Republican, so I know. I’m heartbroken over what’s happened to the party as a whole.

That’s a whole different blog entry.

I don’t have hard feelings for the voters at this point because voting has been effecting change in special elections everywhere. I also have hope for November 2018 midterm elections. I believe that most people are good. I believe that people vote with hope in their hearts.

There’s still hope. We have a free press and freedom of speech. The First Amendment is our most important Amendment of all. Which reminds me, if you haven’t already, download a free copy of the United States Constitution. It’s so, so very important. It’s law that’s higher than the Oval Office.

I hope today finds you, well, I hope it finds you well. I’m assuming that today, likely now to be known as Two Days After That Execution Video & Photo Shoot, you’re having some internal dialogue as you and your publicist continue with damage control. I’m not going to assume too much about your state of mind prior to that stunt; I’m not going to assume too much about your current state of mind either.

I’m not interested in being part of your character assassination.I’m not going to flame you or try to hurt your feelings. My intent here is to try to bring you back down to Earth where the little people are.I’ve peripherally noticed your career, since I’m not a fan of your brand of comedy. I do appreciate your activism and find your serious acting roles interesting.

So when Wednesday I only peripherally noticed your name in one or two vague Facebook statuses late in the evening, I assumed that you had simply pushed a sensitive political button for Republicans. I went to bed blissfully unaware. I had a nice balance of polite dislike-sometimes-like and respect.

Thursday morning (yesterday), the morning news and radio were kind enough to share all of the gory details of the “Execution Video” showing you holding the decapitated head of Donald Trump. They shared your interview about the video you made with Tyler Shields behind the camera. I saw the video with the blurred out “head.” Thanks to the internet, later on, I saw the more graphic images ie. no blurring. It drove the point home that the intended “joke” and the edginess, provocativeness of the juxtaposition between yourself and Trump and an ISIS terrorist and a hostage. They talked about your apologies, and mentioned how they’re not being accepted by organizations such a the VFW. They talked about CNN canceling your future job engagements with them.

It took a me a whole day to process what I had seen and heard. I’m appalled and disappointed. I’m sure you wish you had thought things through and considered that the only approving audience might actually be ISIS. I’m writing this because I’m not entirely sure that you understand why your apologies haven’t been accepted, and why many people won’t forgive you for a long time, if ever. Just think about the Dixie Chicks.

You’ve owned that what happened was wrong, yes. You say that you know it was wrong and won’t do it again. The tricky part here is that people aren’t convinced that you know why it wrong. I don’t think people are convinced that you know why people of all political persuasions and regardless of their opinions on Mr. Trump are as equally appalled.

We’re already in a very precarious political situation. I know that I’m not saying anything new. It’s not a secret or anything even profound. It’s well known as a fact that it’s been a nonstop fiasco since this dumpster fire of a president announced his intent to campaign. I share the embarrassment over the fact that this man is sitting in the Oval Office. I share in the feeling of moral disgust and automatically-triggered rage and anxiety by simply looking at that man’s face.

We all want to have the balance of power restored. We all want to feel empowered in our lives, and to help others find that which makes them feel empowered.

This video didn’t come from a place of power or empowerment, and it doesn’t evoke those feelings in most Americans. There’s a shared shock, mortification, disgust, and genuine outrage across all party lines, and it’s one of the few things uniting those who support Trump and those who vehemently oppose him .

It doesn’t matter that he’s the most hated president in our history; that he’s made history by having the lowest approval ratings not only in his first 100 days, but of any president; He may be the biggest embarrassment in the international stage of leaders; He may be the most corrupt not-politician that ever politicked and the most corrupt individual to ever sit in that chair in the Oval Office; but none of that matters.

The problem is that what you decapitated wasn’t really Donald Trump. You didn’t figuratively cut off the head of the snake and speak out against his policies, ethics, morals, authority, or even his goings on in his personal life. Take Trump out of it. The decapitated head you held was not viewed as a symbol of removing Trump and his power and control. Those of us who are appalled could look at that head and blur out the features, and in our minds imagine any President in its face. We can imagine every President, past and future, in its place.

Because it’s not the current president whose head you decapitated.

It was the very notion of The President of the United States that you decapitated. You decapitated the very rich, full history, the respect, and honor of the Office of the President, and every other office. You decapitated the American People in a manner that was visually and morally repugnant; in a manner that was hateful, chilling, threatening, and violent. You decapitated the privilege, power, influence, giving the incredible potential and opportunity to do GOOD in that office, which is our right as The People under the Constitution.

We have problems in our nation, no doubt. That’s not news. Our country shares many of the same social issues and political issues as other countries. There’s corruption, racism, classism, ableism, and every anti-something you can think of. We have people that are anarchists and hate the government and authority. We have things to be embarrassed about and to apologize over.

But we are also a nation of advocates, allies, lobbyists, writers, artists, journalists, actors, parents, self-advocates, people that care and can make noise when our elected officials do and say things we dislike. We can speak out with our votes; writing letters; attending peaceful, non-violent protests; making phone calls; and anything else that’s protected by the Constitution regarding free speech. We want our messages to come from a true place of power, empowerment, peace, dedication, passion, advocacy, activism, patriotism, and non-violence as is our Constitutional right. This is what we take pride in, and what retains and maintains our Freedoms and our Civil Rights.

This is what Americans do.. we advocate, not decapitate.

I know it’s unlikely that you’ll stumble upon this entry, but if you do read it Ms. Griffin, I hope you read it with an open mind.

Sincerely,

Jessica

After The Press Conference

EDITED TO ADD because I listened to that disaster of a news conference:

Back up the truck.

Kathy Griffin, you made a horrible mistake holding this press conference today. Justifying your actions and going on the attack and listing all of the horrible, disgusting things Trump has said and done as your excuse simply proves that you don’t understand why what you did was wrong. I’m no fan of Trump. I’m no supporter of the suppression of women’s rights. That doesn’t mean I can’t be appalled at that press conference.

It’s not appropriate to tell people to stop being angry because your feelings are hurt that no one “got” your joke and no one appreciated the art.

It’s not appropriate to accuse people of trying to suppress your right to free speech or violate your 1st Amendment Rights. You took offensive photos, and people are reacting. The nation is reacting. You say you don’t have a network behind you, you’re losing jobs. That’s not silencing you. It’s a business decision for them. It’s a consequence for you. People, men and women, have been fired for far, far less than what you did.

You have the right to free speech as long as it’s not hate speech; incites violence; can be considered a death threat or threat of violence upon someone else especially the president. You forget that people have a right to react to your free speech and what you believe is art.

I’m disappointed that you turned this into an equal rights issue for women. It would have been just as horrifying coming from a male comedian. It would have been considered just as inappropriate. This is what rich old white men say when they accuse us of “playing the woman card.” Turning on the tears and pointing out how you’re such a small frail woman doesn’t do any favors for you or for women. Your behavior in that news conference perpetuated every negative female stereotype, and as much as you want to claim Girl Power and pretend that this is about you being a woman, and there are some big bad good ole’ boy men silencing you poor little tiny female, you stomped feminism under your precious little feet.

There’s this thing where you tell a joke, and people laugh, and you know it’s funny. There’s this other thing where you tell a joke and no one laughs and you know it’s not funny. Then there’s this final thing when you tell what you think is a joke and literally everyone is angry and appropriately outraged, and you have to accept that maybe the problem isn’t everyone else.

Chastising others wasn’t the way to go. Humility was. Laying low and refraining from having a press conference where you said all of these things that you should have kept to yourself until you gained more perspective was the way to go.

As a life blogger, it’s not exactly a rare thing to have difficulty choosing a topic and writing about it. Writer’s block is a real thing. 🙂

What I’ve been having trouble with for the past month is on the other end of the writing spectrum of difficulty: I’ve been trying to write about the dumpster fire that is the current White House Administration and fraudulent president, but every time I try to write something it’s either obsolete before I finish writing or there are six other things that should either be added or have their own entries.

While I thought it would give me satisfaction to watch Trump go down in smoke and flames, while I dance around him pointing at those who voted for him singing, “Told ya so!” it’s really giving me no satisfaction at all. I’m not dancing. I’m not laughing. I’m not singing.

I never really wanted to do the dance. I do enjoy, a little bit, the occasional pettiness of telling someone, “I told you so,” but I’m sporting about it. I tell them ahead of time that if I’m right about something and they go ahead and do the opposite, that I’ll say, “I told you so.” I’m equally sporting in that if I don’t give the warning, I won’t say it.

I did want to be wrong about Trump with every fiber of my being.

I’ve prayed harder than I ever have in my life for his success; for him become a true patriot; for him to care about others besides himself; for him to be ethical, moral, kind, compassionate, generous, and to be so even when it’s in private and not a photo op; for him to be honest, truthful, and to expect the same high standards from those he surrounds himself with.

What I am is embarrassed, ashamed, fearful, and anxious that what I thought could happen was far exceeded prior to 100 days. Those feelings have doubled in the days since April 29th 2017.

America is viewed globally as weak and as a laughingstock. We are viewed as extremely volatile and dangerous. We are viewed as ignorant and undignified. After all, we “elected” a man without education, class, morals, ethics, refinement, nor any sort of interpersonal or soft skills and is utterly lacking in business skills or common sense.

Because I simply can’t get into everything without my skull imploding and my fingers turning bloody from typing, let me share this:

We have “no way to know” if the Russians bugged the Oval Office when they visited Trump the other day. No way to know? NO WAY to know? Please, Mr Tillerson… Rex… Please Rex, give us something anything please oh please give us something more than “we have no way to know” please omg please are you fucking kidding me? We don’t have some way, I don’t know, using some sort of technology from one of our intelligence agencies or something to detect bugs? Are we really that inept? Or are we that broke? Do spy movies and TV shows have a bigger budget than the White House Security and NSA for really cool anti-intelligence spy intelligence technology shit?

How about you reassure us that the Russians being confused about what was supposed to actually be considered classified material during that 25 minute meeting isn’t far more concerning than it sounds? How about reassuring us about the fact that Trump shared 50 unscripted things with them? You know, classified thing; things he wasn’t supposed to tell them that are apparently, you know, considered classified. Were there any launch codes in there? Locations of black ops teams? Details about our fighter jets and missiles? Mrs Field’s Cookies recipes?

I’m thinking that what the Russians are really saying is,

“We’re confused. What classified intel do you think he told us… that we didn’t already know?”

I’m a mother. I’m a wife. I can read between lines.

It’s pretty easy to read this: stop saying that Trump “allegedly” told the Russians classified material. It’s not alleged when he admitted publicly that he did it. He can’t even keep a secret in 140 characters or less on Twitter, did anyone think he could or would keep State Secrets from Putin?

Last week I had a neurology check up. I love this guy. He took it very seriously that I had a migraine that was on its ninth day, and showed no sign of alleviating. I’d been taking my daily med religiously; I’d been taking the Imitrex when it got out of control. I’d even been taking Advil on occasion in order to make it through work. I told him that I’d missed two days of work in spite of it all, and wasn’t sleeping even on the weekend.

He prescribed Prednisone, which he said would likely leave me feeling wired like after having way too much caffeine. He said not to take the Imitrex with it, because the efficacy of the Imitrex would be non-existent while on the steroid. I should feel better after the 2nd or 3rd day, taking 5 tablets the first 3 days in the morning; then 4 tabs; then 3; and so on.

I started the Prednisone on Wednesday of last week. I’m feeling “better” but the weather we’ve had hasn’t entirely helped. I’ve had restless sleep thanks to pain, which of course hasn’t helped. Over the weekend any rest I attempted was interrupted by the girls, the Mister, or Leo calling for his Mama. That dog likes to wake everyone up by 7:30 am. If I’m not downstairs by 8:30 am on a weekend he calls me specifically, with this whiny barking that gets urgent, so I end up having to go downstairs to let him hug me. Yup, he’s a hugger. I had to train him to be a polite gentleman dog and hug “properly” so that he wouldn’t knock me down. Goober.

I think that if I can get some long, uninterrupted sleep while on the Prednisone, it’ll work much better. The cats like to take care of me when I’m in bed, so they won’t be a problem. It’s the rest of the clan. 🙂

I went to work today, and I’ll be honest, I should have stayed in bed after the kids got on their rides to school. The Prednisone isn’t wiring me up, it’s making me sleepy. Neat trick.

What worries me at the moment is that if that damned Trumpcare bill passes? Migraines aren’t covered. I could be denied healthcare coverage simply for my migraines. Forget everything else I have to cope with. Migraines can keep me from any sort of healthcare insurance because the bill, if passed into legislation, will allow insurance companies to deny me coverage as a pre-existing condition. That means out of pocket if I see my neurology; if I have to go the emergency room for debilitating migraines that only the hospital can handle; for any of my migraine control medications. That’s thousands upon thousands of dollars a year. If they deem me suitable to cover at all, migraines alone could raise my premium thousands upon thousands of dollars a year.

Just the migraines.

I’m not talking about a little pain in the head. I’m not talking about a headache that some rest and avoiding sex for a night will take care of.

I’m talking about truly debilitating problems that are neurological in nature. Migraines are painful in the eyes, behind the eyes, in the top of the head, behind the head. They cause vision problems. There are sparkles, floaters, auras in front of the eyes. There’s tunnel vision. There’s blackout vision, where nothing is visible at all. There’s vertigo. There are auditory problems, sometimes a blocking of the ears and sometimes hypersensitivity. There can be auditory, visual, tactile, and olfactory hallucinations. Any combination of these symptoms can cause nausea, and vomiting. Fever can occur during migraines. Difficulty and slurring of speech can occur. Inability to walk and stand upright, or even to sit. Light sensitivity. Skin sensitivity.

There is a complete lack of function. It’s debilitating. Literally debilitating. The worst of a migraine is like having a seizure and stroke at the same time. It takes a lot out of you physically and emotionally. You want to scream, cry, beg, plead, but you can’t even think straight let alone speak. You’re forced to ride it out.

Luckily, most of the time mine have been under control by taking Topomax daily. I take the Imitrex for breakthrough migraines that need to be put under control when Advil doesn’t work. After a week, more than that, when that didn’t work, I finally needed to figure out what to do with my doctor. And if this doesn’t help, I don’t know what the next step is. But we’ll get there.

I’d like to clarify something that most writers are missing right now: in order to grab headlines, they’re losing readers interest from even glancing at their very valid points by turning the Civil Rights issues this nation is dealing with into a Liberal and Conservative war. These protests are not Democrats and liberal voters versus Republican and conservative voters (and yes, let’s please assume all other American voters are included in here in the spectrum, okay?).

This is about a majority of Americans who:

recognized from the very beginning how dangerous Trump’s vision for a “great” America is

recognized almost too late how dangerous he is

recognized after they voted for him how dangerous he is

and they’re identifying early on that yes, Mr. Trump is doing everything he can to negatively affect Human Rights and Civil Rights in this country and around the world. They’re speaking out immediately, visibly, and with just cause. They’re showing that even if our votes didn’t count, thanks to GOP and Russian vote tampering and election tampering, our voices count for something now and won’t be turned away.

This country is unifying, even against those who are still whimpering and whining over wondering why all of those millions of marching losers don’t seem to understand that “their” candidate lost and why they just don’t accept it and get over it. That number of whimpering whiners is dwindling.

The reason is because unifying against Trump is a non-partisan issue for the American people. That’s the reason these marches are working. It’s the reason Republican leaders are listening. Their constituents, especially their Republican voters, are marching and writing to them in tandem. They have a reason to pay attention, especially considering many of them are coming up for re-election in only two years.

Now… when it comes to the nominations Trump is putting forth and confirming them, it’s partly partisan, but mostly bigotry and anti-science plus some KKK white supremacy thrown in, but there are Republican officials speaking out more and voting against the nominations. This is important. It means that we’re being heard. It means that maybe they’re afraid of losing votes, sure, but some of them really do see that these are Constitutional issues. Most of the nominations are getting in, but we can hope that the Senate keeps out the rest.

It’s definitely changing regarding the ever-increasingly unstable, unvetted, illegal, unconstitutional, un-American “executive orders.” For the record here, I didn’t like everything President Obama did with his EO’s, but I never once believed he did anything illegal, unconstitutional, or un-American. I believed him to occasionally be misguided and that he needed to be more bi-partisan (or rather non-partisan), as the job of President is no longer partisan. No president is perfect.

Back to the marches.

The marches are non-partisan. These marches are unifying our nation, not splitting it, in spite of the efforts of Mr. Trump and his team of spinners to convince the nation otherwise. His support is dwindling except in the echo chambers of die-hard fans, where they have self-built self-sustaining walls created with years of willful self-denial. No other president in history had, within a week of inauguration, a 51% disapproval rating… the highest disapproval rating for any sitting president.

Anyway, to suggest that the protests are “liberal protests” is divisive. We’re all involved from every party because we’re all invested… at least those of us who voted. I’m still hearing people say,

“He’s not my president. I don’t really care what’s happening. I didn’t even vote. I just have to wait out all of this craziness from all sides for four more years and then everyone will vote for sanity in a third party.”

Yeah… no. We kind of did this, granted with the help of Russia and Trump’s team being complicity in all of it. Plus the gerrymandering of the GOP with election sites, and other forms of trying to defraud people out of their right to vote. Oh yes, and in addition to fixing machines in favor of the GOP. Yeah. That’s the kind of president we have. A criminal, a cheater, and a traitor.

During W.Bush’s second term, I was really upset that he was elected that second time. Not nearly as upset as Trump being “elected” because at least W.Bush was actually elected, and I wasn’t livid. I wasn’t depressed or anxious. I got over it, for the most part, in spite of having fits of anger on occasion for the occasional jackass things he did and said. I was pissed about the warmongering of VP Dick Cheney. Even then, W was still my President. He wasn’t a traitor, at least.

Trump… he may be our president, but he didn’t earn it. He didn’t win it. He’s certainly failing at the job and it hasn’t been a month. We’re practically at war with every nation he’s interacted with except for Russia. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Mexico, China, Yemen, and Australia are ready to bomb the shit out of us. Fucking Australia, people. We’re like, BFF’s with Australia and England and here we are, on the outs with Australia. Who’s next, Canada?

Marching in resistance to Donald Trump physically and verbally is about as American and Patriotic as it gets. It’s standing up for ethical and moral values of the highest standard, including Christian values, morals, and ethics. I thought it was kind of ridiculous when people marched against Obama, but that was their right. It WASN’T their right to burn him in effigy. That was just disgusting. Notice, though, no one is burning Trump in effigy. That’s what peaceful protest is all about.

I can assure you, the state of Resistance has nothing to do with crybabies being poor losers that their candidate didn’t win. If that’s what you think this boils down to, then it’s time to start paying attention. It’s time to re-evaluate your ethics and values. If it turns out that the reasons for the marches offend you, then it’s because you’re on the wrong side of history. You’re on the wrong side of patriotism, what it means to be American, and yes, what it means to be Christian and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

It has everything to do with losing Constitutionally ensured rights; losing rights that are Federally protected. Rights of those who are discriminated against, and need the protection of law in the Constitution. It has to do with the fact that our new pseudo-president is trying to write executive orders, orders that he hasn’t thoroughly vetted or researched or even consulted with the proper specialists and heads of departments over, that would violate the Constitution in order to revoke Civil Rights, health rights, Human Rights, education rights, Disability Rights, Women’s Rights, Veteran’s Rights, Elder Rights, and more.

People who are opposed to these marches, who are offended by them, don’t realize that these marches are for their benefit. They only see that “their” candidate is being “attacked” and still, the tired old,

“What a bunch of losers, just get over it already. Move on.”

and the ever lovely,

“Obama wiped his ass with the Constitution every day.”

Of course what they really mean by that little gem is that President Obama clarified people’s rights and made certain that people’s rights were protected under the Constitution. When that happens, it’s a good thing for everyone. It’s unlawful actions that try to revoke rights.

It’s incredibly difficult to obtain rights. They must be fought for with sweat, blood, and tears by those whose rights aren’t recognized. It takes more than decades of literal fighting and fighting in the courts… it takes centuries. Actual, literal centuries. And when those rights are finally recognized and then protected in our Constitution, we have this deranged faux president with absolutely no morals or ethics, who has stated that they simply get in the way of what he wants, who thinks he can write executive orders to take away anyone’s rights that he pleases. He thinks he can simply dismantle whatever he wants, and everyone will be pleased as punch.

When that’s not the case, he attempts media blackout. He gaslights the media and credible journalists. He tries to discredit every single well respected individual that speaks out against him so that his fans call them traitors.

Traitors. Which is funny, since he’s the one who committed and is committing treason. That alone is a Federal offense. But hey, we’re living in an alternate universe this year.

“Speaking out against criticism of the President is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt

Which is why it’s so damned funny to me that people are offended on Trump’s behalf that men and women are marching against Trump. It’s funny that his voters fell for so much of his obvious lies and ignored his crimes. He proved throughout his entire campaign just how incompetent he was. Daily. He proved it even more AFTER HE WAS ELECTED, and it worsened day by day the closer we got to that farce of an inauguration. Since the election, many many many of his voters are regretting what they did to this country, their contribution to the damage… but there are too many who are still willingly stuffing their mouths with sawdust flavored with arsenic, and calling it Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.

The traitors are those who still defend this deranged traitor that calls himself president. So no, I’m still not over it.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus noted Sunday that the huge protests at some of the nation’s airports over the weekend were out of proportion to the practical effect of President Donald Trump‘s executive order on immigration.

“The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States” on Saturday, Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “And 109 people were detained for further questioning.”

That number grew slightly by the end of the day, but reflected a general truth that ought to be sobering for the administration — the vast majority of protesters didn’t know the detainees and didn’t have friends or family connected to one of the seven predominantly Muslim nations targeted in the crackdown on immigrants and refugees.

They descended by the thousands on international terminals coast to coast mostly to raise alarm on behalf of strangers and to object to the abdication of key American values that a ban on refugees represents.

Similarly, none of the millions who marched and rallied for women’s rights the previous weekend had yet lost anything or suffered a single deprivation on account of Trump. How could they have? He’d been president for only one day.

In other words, most of the anti-Trump protests so far have been over symbolism and omens.

So just imagine what’s going to happen if or when the largely hypothetical becomes real and the abstract becomes personal.

•If or when the numbers of people turned away from our borders, detained or deported grows from the hundreds into the tens of thousands.

•If or when millions of people lose their health insurance policies after Obamacare is repealed.

•If or when Roe v. Wade is overturned and states begin outlawing abortion.

•If or when we begin to go backward on LGBTQ rights and anti-gay discrimination is enshrined as a religious right.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries was met with protests at U.S. airports.

•If or when prices or taxes rise to pay for an unnecessary border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and for Trump’s misbegotten trade wars.

•If or when public education begins to disappear in major urban centers.

•If or when strict voter-ID laws, with their racially discriminatory effects, sweep the red states.

If any of the above hypotheticals become reality, these recent protests will seem quaint in comparison.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this the Liberal Spring, but make no mistake: After eight, sleepy, nearly torpid years of hoping that President Barack Obama and his wealthiest supporters would protect their interests, members of the left — progressives, Democrats — have awakened with a roar.

Critics complained that the Women’s March on Washington was incoherent and diffuse, an airing of various concerns without an identifiable set of demands. Actually, though, the message of those rallies was quite clear: We’re not cowering in the face of the Trump agenda. We’re determined, we’re energized and when Trump crosses the line, we’ll be right back out here with demonstrations that’ll make those tea party rallies of 2010 look like Tuesday morning gatherings at the dog park.

Don’t miss the idealism. Many of the marchers, like many of the airport protesters, don’t feel directly threatened by Trumpism. They’re straight, white people of some means who have decent health insurance and probably won’t be alive long enough to be mortally sickened by the poisonous air and water in a deregulated America.

These protesters organized, made signs, traveled and took time out of their lives to make a show of their beliefs on behalf of others now that they’ve been poked by Trump’s statements and his early moves in the White House.

After ineptly playing defense and squabbling internally during Obama’s two terms, the left is back on offense, angry and activated.

The evidence is not just in the crowds and first-time protesters. The American Civil Liberties Union reported taking in $24.2 million in online donations over the weekend, more than six times the total of online donations the organization usually gets in an entire year!

And the real action, the real outrages, haven’t even really started.

Trump likes to talk about leading a “movement” because he galvanized just enough disillusioned, credulous voters to eke out a victory in the Electoral College over an opponent nearly as unpopular as he is.

It’s Inauguration Day 2017 in America. What’s the appropriate way to react, or how to feel when you’re not among those who voted for someone … well… for Trump?

It’s still not to simply accept it. It’s not to just move on. It’s time to defy all that Trump and Pence stand for.

Acceptance and moving on can never occur when Inauguration Day is placing a criminal and traitor as a dictator into the place of President. Someone who doesn’t value all lives equally; who doesn’t value anyone except himself.

The appropriate response is, I’m finding, to pray.

The inauguration is occurring right now.

And so I’m praying for my fellow Americans. I’m praying for my fellow Americans who did not vote for this unpresidential domestic threat nor the Russian threat that this criminal has invited into our nation.

I’m praying for all Americans that Trump doesn’t value. As he listens to Senator Schumer discuss America’s great values, Trump sits there with a frown, rocking back and forth, and instead of sitting up straight with rapt attention, he slouches and looks around behind him, shaking his head.

I’m praying as I discover that police are using pepper spray at peaceful protest marches.

I’m praying as Pence dares to stand up there and take the oath of Vice President to protect this country, even as he’s been leading the charge to dismantle human rights and civil rights in his very own country in the past weeks.

I’m praying as Trump has the utter gall to take an oath he’s never had the intention of keeping, as his entire campaign was about destroying the Constitution… his cavalier words that the Constitution means nothing to him during his campaign. His only allegiance to any country, to any god, is to his Trump Tower, himself, and money. I will not stand. I will not honor him. I will not accept.

I’m praying, because there’s no way possible that this is God’s will as so many dare to claim. This was the doing of GOP fraud, Russia, and Trump. I’m praying because to celebrate this farce would be to become an unpatriotic traitor to America.

This is a tragic, sad day. His words have no meaning. His oath has no meaning. He lies even as he gives his dictatorial acceptance speech. Even as his tiny baby hands look even more tiny and pudgy than usual, and his usual healthy day-glo orange is muddier than usual.

He dared stand up there and said, “Make America great again.” A nation that has always, always been great and now has a real stain against it. An unpatriotic criminal and traitor is now our fake President.

Only America and her most fragile citizens, her citizens that must be protected by Federal Laws must be prayed for. Those who are discriminated against regularly for their sex, gender, religion or lack of religion, their low income, their ethnicity, race, color, national original, disability, age, pregnancy, and even genetic information or political party.

Up front, I’m Catholic. This entry is about education and freedom of religion.

Darth Pence wants to do to “reform” our public schools. I bow to the fact that some changes ought to be made, the main one being to pay teachers what they’re worth and put more funding into education so that we don’t continue to have a nation that doesn’t value intellectualism or education. That’s not at all what Darth Pence plans to do in his reform of public schools.

Darth Pence wants to unschool our children and remove science classes. He wants to replace science with teachings from the Bible.

I kid you not.

Biggest headline: Darth Pence, with the help of Trump’s cabinet pick Betsy DeVos, plan to evict the Big Bang and Evolutionary Theories from the public school curriculum and replace them with Biblical Creationism.

This is offensive regardless of your political affiliation or religious affiliation. It’s offensive no matter the end of the conservative or liberal end of the spectrum you fall. In spite of the smoke and mirrors, this has never, ever been Democrats versus Republicans, nor has it been Liberals versus Conservatives. The value of keeping Church and State separate is a value of all major parties that are seen as legitimate except for one.

It’s a Tea Party value, the Tea Party who are a bunch of jokers that know nothing about politics and are trying to destroy it from the inside out (admittedly, especially since. A bunch of evangelistic biblical literalists who are destroying the christian faith and the reputation of all Christians.

For a person of faith, like me, it’s about being balanced, faithful to God, being a better mother, wife, person, being truthful in how I live my life, respecting the world I live in, respecting the people I share the Earth with, being in awe of the Earth my God created, and loving this life. And in order to do that and to teach my family how to do that, I don’t need some judgmental, creepy, selfish, criminal, vile, wannabe, fake-ass President and his sidekick VP dismantling our schools, our special education programs, and our religion.

How I choose to indoctrinate my children is my choice, with my husband. Where it occurs is our choice. I want them indoctrinated in our family church that we carefully chose, and in our home. Indoctrination is to be fully controlled by us. The separation of Church and State is to be held as a sacred value.

If my children wish to pray before a test, or they wish to pray during their free time, they’re allowed due to the freedom of religion. The key is that they don’t try to convert anyone or “witness” at school (well, as Catholics we don’t do that as a rule); during free time at school they can discuss each others religions to get to know each other, and they can pray together if they want. That’s fantastic. But no class led prayer. No indoctrination.

If children … students … are to learn about religion and their creation stories in a public school there are Humanities courses or World Religions courses, Social Studies, and they teach “This is what this religion is about, what they do,” ie. the facts of various religions without commentary of the validity of any of them. If it’s indoctrination and proselytizing, then that belongs in private schools.

For those who are devoutly Roman Catholic, there’s some good news

Numerous sources confirm that Pope Francis has stated that he accepts the Theories of Evolution and the Big Bang (go to article below, and then click it).

And that is awesome. Essentially, Pope Francis recognizes that behind the Scientific Theories, there is God. Behind all of the science, there is God speaking to us and guiding us. It means he’s continued to move the Church back into the light, back towards God and away from the Dark Ages that Benedict was so determined to plunge us into. Pope Francis is a beacon of hope.

The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared. Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Science explains the “how.” Religion explains the “why.”

“They’re ‘just’ theories. They can’t prove it. Science is its own religion, and you can’t trust it! You’re rejecting the BIBLE AND GOD! YOU’RE JUST A LIBTARD!”

When I’m feeling generous, I don’t assume that those people I hear that statement from are also rabid anti-vaxxers and give them the benefit of the doubt. 😉 I instead assume that they’re open to listening to reason. I don’t assume that they’re Sophophobic (have a fear of learning and being educated).

They’re actually not “just” theories. When someone dismisses a Theory out of hand, they’re forgetting middle school and high school science when they learned about the Scientific method and how to write a lab report. It was such a valuable experience learning those things, because it taught us how to approach the world. It was supposed to teach us how to be curious and question, how to touch things and be involved in the world. It taught us that we didn’t have to be scientists to value science.

Most people seem to think that a theory is vague and maybe possibly could be a fact if there were enough facts to support the idea… to support the opinion. They think that a hypothesis mean “to guess the result of an experiment.” I thought that maybe going back to basics would be a good idea for a minute or two.

A hypothesis isn’t an educated guess. It is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation. Once you do the experiment and find out if it supports the hypothesis, it becomes part of scientific theory.

Next we have Theories, with tested results that can be repeated and WILL BE repeated. A Theory is something that we know is true even if aspects of the Theory change due to obtaining new information, new interpretations, or a change in some information. A Theory can be voted on in the Scientific Community. A Theory IS NOT an opinion and takes precedence over opinions, as a Theory is in fact, factual.

A scientific theory is an explanation for why things work or how things happen. Scientists develop theories based on their observations of the world around them.Theories are based on ideas that can be tested. Theories are not speculative, or based on a guess.

kids.britannica.com/elementary/article-544886/scientific-theory?

Finally, we have the Scientific Law. A Scientific Law is so certain that it’s absolute and unchanging. You can’t vote on it, create a new interpretation of it, or change it in any way. It’s a description of observable phenomenon and doesn’t require explanation. It can be the basis of creating new Theories. Theories don’t become Laws, and neither do Hypotheses.

A scientific law is a statement based on repeated experimental observations that describes some aspects of the universe. A scientific law always applies under the same conditions, and implies that there is a causal relationship involving its elements.

If you’re Roman Catholic, and you trust in the plans of God and how he’s using Pope Francis, have hope. If you’re not Catholic, but Pope Francis is still a cool dude in your eyes, hopefully this gives you hope that Christians are not represented by those who claim christianity in the government. At least there’s something positive from 2016 moving into 2017.

The plans of Darth Pence for Education, and Trump’s cabinet pick for Education, Betsy DeVos, should upset you greatly no matter what. If you’re not upset, then you should at least be concerned or moved enough to want to write to your State Representatives, your Senator, your Governor. Be your own activist, be your childrens’ advocate. If you want the future of our country to be in the hands of godly, educated men and women then speak up. If you want your nation to be in the hands of educated men and women, speak up. We don’t have to just shut up and take it.

We don’t have to just accept it. We don’t have to just get over it. We need to do something, because he’s been following through with everything he said he would and he’s not even President yet. We’re not talking soundbytes. These are the “great things” and big changes he was talking about.